Valentino Rossi has just completed a stunning three-day test of the Yamaha MotoGP machine at Sepang, Malaysia. In his first outing on his new machine, Rossi lapped within 2/10ths of a second of the quickest Honda testing the prior week — ridden by Max Biaggi. Posting a 202.75, Rossi was quicker than the majority of the top Honda factory riders.
During the test, Rossi was substantially faster than the three other Yamaha riders in attendance, including Carlos Checa, Marco Melandri and Norick Abe. If the times posted by those three riders were viewed alone, you would still think Yamaha is a step or two behind the Honda MotoGP effort. Rossi, however, gave every indication he will be competitive with the Hondas from the first race of 2004.
